P.J. Blakey-Novis's Blog, page 4

Book release info and other news!

Adventures in Self-Publishing; More Book Release News!

Good afternoon again from (rainy) southern England!
THE BROKEN DOLL: SHATTERED PIECES IS OUT NOW!
Last month I released an anthology of short horror stories entitled Embrace The Darkness and other stories. Sales of this book have gotten off to a great start, receiving two reviews on Amazon (both 5 star) and three reviews on Goodreads (also all 5 stars!), and it is available from Amazon at 99p for the ebook and £4.99 for the paperback. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Embrace-Dark...
I had the privilege of being interviewed about the book my fellow author and blogger Mercedes Prunty, and you can read her thoughts on the book and the full interview here; https://mercedespruntyauthor.wordpres...
My wife has kindly put together some trailers for each of the short horror stories which are now on my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCO... along with the trailer for The Broken Doll and its sequel, The Broken Doll: Shattered Pieces.
On the subject of the sequel to The Broken Doll, it is now available from Amazon, with other retailers to follow shortly. https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_... and to celebrate, the first novel is on sale at just 99p for the ebook.
In other news, I have opened an Etsy store, selling signed editions as well as having had my horror stories serialized on Channilo which is a subscription site so hopefully these will become a worthwhile revenue stream.
If you would like a signed edition, bought in person, then come along to The Underground Theatre in Eastbourne, UK on November 11th where I will be attending a book fair, along with a multitude of other local authors.
If you feel the urge to support my work, then (aside from buying the books, of course) you can pledge to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/pjbnauthor and see the different rewards on offer.
The amount of news that I have to share is growing with each post and it certainly feels that things are beginning to come together. If you have read, or intend to read, any of my books then please do leave a reviews – it’s the best thing that you can do for an author.
I hope that you are all well, and thank you for taking a few minutes to read this. Feel free to get in touch with any comments or questions.
Peter

Sample from Embrace the Darkness

I was around seven or eight when I first had a nightmare. At least, that was the initial one which was vivid enough that I can still recall it. It was short, not a lot of detail being provided in my mind. I saw myself lying upon the bed in my small room and there, in the farthest corner, between the top of the wall and the ceiling, was the creature. It had formed a kind of nest, strings of white hanging from the ceiling as it nestled there, web-like entrails surrounding its dark form. In my dream, I could not see it properly. It appeared just as a shape, but the terror which I felt that night is something that I remember well. I did not sleep in my own bedroom for a number of weeks after that night.
When I was fourteen, I awoke in the early hours of the morning, screaming. My sleep had been interrupted by another nightmare, a continuation from the one I had had all those years previously. I was still sleeping in the same bedroom. We had resided at the house all of my life, only my bed was on the opposite side of the room at this point. The monster, however, was back in its original spot, now appearing directly above me and this time it had begun to move. I recall the dream as clearly as I do the previous one. I remember, in my dream state, gazing up at the creature and thinking, 'That's the same monster from my dream before!' It was a feeling of wonderment, rather than fear, to begin with. That was until it started to shift, an almost human-like face unfurling, jet black in its entirety except for two pupil-less, perfectly round, white eyes. As the terrifying face began to push against the web which it had created for itself, I screamed, waking from the nightmare as I sat upright in bed.
My fourteen-year-old-self was more able to accept that it had only been a nightmare, but I still felt uneasy each night, desperately trying to think about other things before sleep took me. No sooner had I managed to banish the dream from my mind, then I had another one, yet again the same. It was only the briefest moment, that awful face continuing to press against the web as if it were trying to come closer to me, but the level of terror that I felt was enough to begin affecting me during my waking hours. I would see the creature in a whole host of places, more and more often as the weeks went by. My family thought that I was suffering from arachnophobia at one point due to the way that I would recoil from the sight of a spider on its web. Shadows in the corners of rooms would take the form of that face, nowhere felt safe.
Read the rest of the story, as well as the other five, in my recently released anthology of the same name. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/154853640...
Signed paperbacks are available exclusively through my Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/54575...

Book Release Info

Good afternoon again from southern England!
As you probably know, if you’ve been paying attention, I have been working on a sequel to my debut novel, The Broken Doll. I have also been putting together a series of short horror stories, tasters of some of which have appeared on my blogs, with the full stories going on to my Patreon site for subscribers.
Two days ago, the first six of these short stories were released as an anthology entitled Embrace The Darkness and other stories. Sales of this book have gotten off to a great start and it is available from Amazon at 99p for the ebook and £4.99 for the paperback. It’s currently being sent to other retailers and should show up in the listings over the next few days. My wife has kindly put together some trailers for each of the short stories which are now on my YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgCO... along with the trailer for The Broken Doll and its sequel, The Broken Doll: Shattered Pieces.
The sequel to The Broken Doll is now (finally) complete in first draft and will be dismembered through the editing process over the next month or so, with a release date around mid-August.
If you have not yet read my debut novel, it is available in the Smashwords summer sale until the end of July at half price. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
If you feel the urge to support my work, then (aside from buying the books, of course) you can pledge to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/pjbnauthor and see the different rewards on offer.
My children’s book is in the hands of the illustrator at the moment and the images that I have seen so far are fantastic. It’s a lovely tale, co-written by my daughter, about her adventures travelling through time with her pet monkey, more details to follow as soon as I have them.
I hope that you are all well, and thank you for taking a few minutes to read this. Feel free to get in touch with any comments or questions.
Peter

Sample from Dream Catcher

A sample from Dream Catcher, one story of six short horrors from my upcoming anthology Embrace The Darkness;

When morning came, once again his sleep interrupted by his alarm, there was another video. This was a longer one, nearer to five minutes. Whether or not it continued on from the previous footage was impossible to say, the time line in dreams not being as linear as in real life. There were similarities between the two clips, however, especially the 'feel' of them. If they had been movies, they would have looked as though they had had the same director. The second dream was more surreal than the first and featured Paul apparently stumbling across some kind of secret society preparing for a ritual of sorts. It was, again, very jumpy and Paul saw winding tunnels, torches of fire adorning the walls. There was a line people passing him as he wandered along them, all in red gowns with their hoods up. No one was speaking. As soon as the last person passed him Paul turned to join the end of the procession, looking down to see that he too was wearing a red gown. He followed them through to a large chamber, hundreds of candles illuminating it. A huge stone pentacle was embedded into the rock beneath his feet as he gazed upon a marble table that was by now encircled by the other people. On the table was a woman, fully nude, face down. Her ankles and wrists were tied to poles, spreading them as far as she could manage. From where Paul stood, her head was farthest from him, affording him a rather explicit view.

Terrified at what appeared to be about to happen, Paul turned to try and leave. His path was blocked, however, by a female figure. The red hood masked most of the features of her face, only a large tattoo of a spider being visible on her neck. It was at this moment of finding some familiarity that his alarm clock must have dragged him back to reality and the video ended suddenly.

Read the story in full on my Patreon site at www.patreon.com/pjbnauthor or subscribe to my mailing list for release details and news via www.pjbnauthor.wordpress.com

Thanks for reading!

It's all coming together

Adventures in Self-Publishing pt. 6 (17-5-17)

Good afternoon from southern England!
What have I been up to over the last month? You may have noticed that I have not been posting fortnightly, having decided to post one update each month and one sample from a short story each month.
The sequel to The Broken Doll has been coming along but I am struggling to come up with a title which is distracting me a bit, and I’m (almost) at my target about to start chapter 20. As I mentioned previously, I have a general launch date in mind for early August and I am still on track to meet this deadline. I’m also making the final arrangements for a book tour, carrying out signings at some bookshops and events later in the year (slightly scary!)
I have made a trailer for The Broken Doll which can be seen on my Facebook page, Patreon or now on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ngXr...
The ebook of The Broken Doll was available for FREE until the end of May via Instafreebie which I joined as a way of increasing my mailing list. I’m not sure how useful this has been as the opening rate of the email mailshots has only been around 25% but it’s an improvement on how my list looked beforehand.
The Patreon page is picking up momentum, with the current offering of three short stories; Dream Catcher (rated 5 stars by one of my Patrons), The Devil’s Pocket Watch and on the 1st of June I added Betrayal, a short, medieval tale. I have also written another story in advance, entitled Embrace The Darkness, which my wife assured me was particularly creepy. I have also completed the first draft of the next one, Abandonment, so keep an eye out for samples appearing across my various platforms. I intend to launch an anthology of these when there is sufficient material and have been tinkering about with cover designs.
So, in order to shamelessly plug the page, here is a reminder of what you can get;
$1 a month gets you access to a short story each month. (These are exclusive to Patreon and cannot be found anywhere else)
$5 a month gets you the previous reward PLUS a free ebook of The Broken Doll
$10 a month gets you the rewards for $5 PLUS exclusive access to rough drafts of my works in progress
(And if you’re feeling super generous!) $25 a month gets you all of the above PLUS a signed paperback to treasure for all time
I’d be hugely appreciative if you felt able to pledge even just a little to the page, and would love to hear any feedback on the stories so far. www.patreon.com/pjbnauthor
In other news, I have found an illustrator for my children’s book who has begun work on the images so I’m very much looking forward to getting that into print. It’s a lovely tale, co-written by my daughter, about her adventures travelling through time with her pet monkey. I have a Kickstarter campaign in place (6 days left) in the hope of raising funds for the illustrations and initial print run. Backers have the chance to get hold of a signed first edition, as well ebooks, personalised bags and toys. If you’d like to get involved then click here; www.kickstarter.com/projects/22465567...
I think that is all for this time, feel free to get in touch if you have any comments or questions, it’s good to connect!
Peter

Sneak peek at Betrayal

Read the first page of Betrayal, my next short horror story which is available on my Patreon site from June 1st, along with two previous stories; Dream Catcher and The Devil’s Pocket Watch. Subscribe from as little as $1 per month for exclusive works. www.patreon.com/pjbnauthor

There is a fine line between prophecy and witchcraft. The consequences for both could not be farther apart, however. This is something that I learned at a young age. My father was a farmer, still is I presume if he is still alive. My mother married him at just fifteen, almost twenty years his junior, common practice in these times. My father had been married previously but lost his first wife to a plague of sickness which had swept through the village, taking more than half of the villagers with it. The loss was made doubly tragic as she had been pregnant with his first born but, the way that I look at it, if she had survived then I would not have existed.
Desperately lonely and in need of companionship, my parent's marriage was arranged only a few months later, my father determined to have someone bear him a son whom he could pass on the farm to. Perhaps he has one now, I do not know. It has been over ten years since I have seen him, over ten years since the trial - if you could call it that. My mother fell pregnant soon after they were married, understanding exactly what her role in life was to be. She knew no better and expected no more, content with becoming a farmer's wife and the bearer of his children.
Physically, my mother was not ready for childbirth; her frame too slight to endure the strain that it would put on her. Had she fallen pregnant with one child then perhaps she would have survived but twins were all too much. My sister was born first, by almost ten minutes and it was clear to my father, as well as to those assisting with the birth, that all was not well. From what I have been told, which is not a great deal, my mother had lost consciousness by the time they managed to drag me out of her, bleeding profusely from the tears that we had caused. She never awoke, not living long enough to even see her seventeenth birthday. My father was inconsolable, having buried two wives and gained no son in exchange for his loss.
As much as he had wanted a son, my father could not bring himself to remarry, unable to face the risk of losing a third wife. He accepted what he saw as his fate, solemnly moving on with his life on the farm, doing his best to raise two daughters alone. I remember him telling us that he did not want to send us off to be married, as was the custom for girls of a certain age. He wanted to prepare us for a life of farming, regardless of what anyone else would think. We looked up to him at that time, and from a very young age, we were taught everything that we would need to know in order to take over when my father was no longer able to tend to the fields himself.
The dreams began when we turned twelve. I say we because my sister had the same dreams, on the same nights. Virtually identical visions with one crucial difference. I would dream that I had an important destiny, that I would, someday, rise to fame. That I was chosen by a higher power to pass on the prophecies to mortal men. In my dreams my sister had become a force for evil, choosing to live a life of witchcraft and heresy. There was a scene that kept running over, night after night, in which we were both surrounded by a mob of people from the neighbouring villages. The conversation within the dream was muffled but it resulted in my sister being dragged to a stake, bound and burned alive. As close as we were in the real world, I appeared to feel no remorse in the dream. My sister's dream was identical, except that our roles were reversed and I was the evil one.

In other news, I need your help! I am currently running a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the illustrations and initial print costs of my first children’s book, co-written by my seven-year-old daughter. As of today it is 10% funded and there are three weeks remaining. In exchange for any pledges, there are numerous fab rewards including an ebook and a signed paperback. The ultimate reward, I feel, is also a great gift – a signed paperback and a stuffed monkey toy, sent to you in a cotton bag which is personalised with your child’s name! I would be extremely grateful if you could take a look at www.kickstarter.com/projects/22465567...
Best wishes
Peter

Kickstarter!

Hi guys, that is for reading. I just wanted to mention that my Kickstarter campaign is now live, raising funds for the production costs of my first children's book, co-written by my daughter! It's already 10% funded and any further backing is hugely appreciated. Plus you can get some awesome rewards!
#kickstarter is now LIVE!! Back my #crowfunding campaign to launch this lovely children’s book and earn fab rewards! https://t.co/FleCBGk0Ge

Adventures in Self-Publishing (6)

Good afternoon from a very warm, and stormy looking, southern England!
What have I been up to over the last fortnight? Well, a bit of this and a bit of that!
The sequel to The Broken Doll has been coming along quite well, and I’m at my target (big relief) currently starting chapter 15. The story is twisting nicely, with a few Eureka moments, and I’m sure that my writing is improving steadily. As I mentioned previously, I have a general launch date in mind for early August and I am still on track to meet this deadline.
As a result of, as far as I can tell, my writing improving, it had made me think more about The Broken Doll and I do intend to give it one last edit before the sequel goes on sale. With a bit of luck, I’ll be able to squeeze this in and still keep on track but I do feel it needs a few tweaks. I have had another look at the paperback version today and played around with the font and margins, reducing the page count significantly. I still have no idea on a title or how I want the cover to look but, as difficult as it is, I’m trying not to get distracted by these features yet!
The ebook of The Broken Doll is still available for FREE until the end of May via Instafreebie which I joined as a way of increasing my mailing list. This has worked reasonably well, tripling the number on the list in a fortnight. I’m currently in the 30 day free trial so I’m yet to decide if it is worth paying the $20 a month to keep it going. If you want to sign up then either send me an email first, to pjblakey-novis@outlook.com, or message me through this site, or any of my social media accounts. If you would like your free ebook then please do visit https://www.instafreebie.com/free/C4PUj and, if you would spare a few moments, please do leave a review (particularly on GoodReads or Amazon) – it would mean a lot! Signing up to the mailing list also gets you excerpts of some short stories.
The Patreon page is ticking over, with the current offering of two short stories; Dream Catcher (rated 5 stars by one of my Patrons) and The Devil’s Pocket Watch. On the 1st of June I will be adding Betrayal, a short, medieval tale. I have also written another story in advance, entitled Embrace The Darkness, which my wife assured me was particularly creepy.
So, in order to shamelessly plug the page, here is a reminder of what you can get;
$1 a month gets you access to a short story each month. (These are exclusive to Patreon and cannot be found anywhere else)
$5 a month gets you the previous reward PLUS a free ebook of The Broken Doll
$10 a month gets you the rewards for $5 PLUS exclusive access to rough drafts of my works in progress
(And if you’re feeling super generous!) $25 a month gets you all of the above PLUS a signed paperback to treasure for all time
I’d be hugely appreciative if you felt able to pledge even just a little to the page, and would love to hear any feedback on the stories so far. www.patreon.com/pjbnauthor

The only other piece of news is regarding my children’s story; unfortunately the illustrator that I was in talks with has had to pull out of the project due to other work commitments and I am now, once again, looking for someone who can produce the illustrations in exchange for a 50/50 split of the royalties (a small advance may be possible). If you know anyone who may be interested then don’t hesitate to get in touch.
I think that is all for this time, feel free to get in touch if you have any comments or questions, it’s good to connect!
Peter

Excerpt from The Devil's Pocket Watch - a Patreon Exclusive

"I'd take that over living with you!" Tess had retorted on one occasion, and only one. Convinced that the Devil himself was speaking through Tess, her mother dealt with the statement in, what she called, a controlled manner. Tess's knuckles had turned purple from the wooden spoon that her mother had taken to her on that day and she learned not to talk back from that point on. She also learned that her mother was a hypocrite; spouting on about 'loving thy neighbour' yet willing to physically attack her own child.

Three months after the assault, (this is what Tess, dramatically, called the incident), her mother was dead. It had been ruled a suicide, ingestion of some kind of toxin. Despite this conclusion being reached, there were no traces found in the toxicology report. Tess had not seen the body, her grandmother would not allow it, and this was certainly for the best. As far as Tess was aware, her mother had been found lying on the bed, as stiff as a board. Her throat had swollen up, causing suffocation. Her neck was red and raw with bloody scratch marks, self-inflicted from her clawing at it. Her eyes were wide open when Tess's grandmother had discovered the body, bulging almost out of their sockets. The coroner had decided that the injuries were consistent with a neurotoxin which causes a reaction similar to anaphylactic shock. This suggestion, coupled with the revelation that her mother had been taking anti-psychotic medication for a number of years and no evidence of foul play, led to the ruling of suicide.

Subscribe to my Patreon page to read the complete version of The Devil's Pocket Watch, as well as Dream Catcher and, soon, Betrayal. From as little as $1 per month you gain exclusive access to monthly short stories, 'behind the scenes' first drafts plus the chance to grab a free ebook and a signed paperback! Subscribe here - www.patreon.com/pjbnauthor

Adventures in Self-Publishing (5)

Hello, and welcome back once again to my blog about my writing journey so far. Thanks for taking a look. So what news does he have this time, you ask!
Sales of The Broken Doll have climbed a little since running a half price offer but it does feel as though there is a long way to go. As great as self-publishing is, it has opened the floodgates and the amount of competition out there is incredible with over 5 million ebooks being available on Amazon. It seems that the only way to get the book pushed higher in the rankings is to obtain more reviews, something I am finding very difficult to get. As of today, I still have 8 reviews on Amazon, there is one on GoodReads, one on Kobo. 9 out of the ten are 5 star which is fab.
I have been (slowly) plodding along with my sequel to The Broken Doll, currently almost on track and the first draft of Chapter 11 should be complete by the end of today. Keeping to my writing plan will mean that I have a release date in early August for this, although I have no idea on a title yet.
My mailing list is slowly growing and this seems like the best way to build an audience. I only send an email each fortnight with some updates and there are some exclusive giveaways in the pipeline as well. If you want to sign up then either send me an email first, to pjblakey-novis@outlook.com, or message me through this site, or any of my social media accounts.
I am yet to see if anything has been gained by running the giveaway on GoodReads which ended on April 30th. 229 people entered and I posted 3 signed paperbacks yesterday. I’m hoping that this will garner a couple more reviews at least (I sent a little note to this effect with the books.) It is encouraging to see that 97 people in the GoodReads community have marked The Broken Doll as ‘to-read’, potentially meaning that there are sales to come.
On the topics of both reviews and my email list, I have enrolled the ebook on Instafreebie, a site that I was not familiar with until a few days ago. This makes the book free to anyone who uses the site, available currently until the end of May. The benefit for myself is that, in order to get the free copy, they must subscribe to my mailing list. It seemed like a reasonable investment (I really don’t like giving my work away for nothing!) as it should, fingers crossed, help to build a list of readers that will be interested in future works. If you would like your free ebook then please do visit https://www.instafreebie.com/free/C4PUj and, who knows, maybe it will lead to some of those ever-elusive reviews!
You may remember from my previous blogs that I had set up a page on Patreon, whereby people can subscribe for exclusive material. Subscriptions start at just $1 a month (about 80p) and give you access to short stories which are not available anywhere else! The first short story available on there at the moment is Dream Catcher, as short horror tale. A second short horror, The Devil’s Pocket Watch, was uploaded on May 1st. I have now had a play about with the rewards on offer, having looked about at some other writer’s pages. So, in order to shamelessly plug the page, here is what you can get;
$1 a month gets you access to a short story each month. (These are exclusive to Patreon and cannot be found anywhere else)
$5 a month gets you the previous reward PLUS a free ebook of The Broken Doll
$10 a month gets you the rewards for $5 PLUS exclusive access to rough drafts of my works in progress
(And if you’re feeling super generous!) $25 a month gets you all of the above PLUS a signed paperback to treasure for all time
I’d be hugely appreciative if you felt able to pledge even just a little to the page, and would love to hear any feedback on the stories so far. www.patreon.com/pjbnauthor
I think that is all for this time, feel free to get in touch if you have any comments or questions, it’s good to connect!
Peter